The Detroit Pistons engaged in a little wheeling and dealing on Tuesday night at the NBA Draft, moving up four spots to select Stanford guard Ebuka Okorie at No. 17.
The move cost the Pistons three future second-round picks, sent to the Memphis Grizzlies. A sampling of grades from industry analysts seems to indicate it was worth it.
In the 19-year-old Okorie, the Pistons landed a 6-foot-2 combo guard who led the ACC in scoring in his lone season with the Cardinal, at 23.2 points per game.
“… Okorie is the best driving guard in the class, a 6-1 jitterbug who manipulates defenders with a tight handle, sudden changes of speed, and an advanced feel for the game,” writes Yahoo! Sports NBA senior analyst Kevin O’Connor, who gave the Pistons an A-plus for the pick. “He’s not an above-the-rim athlete, though, and not long ago he was a kid from New Hampshire who ranked outside the top 100 and committed to Harvard. Then Stanford found him, he flipped his commitment, and he proceeded to lead the ACC in scoring with eight 30-point games and a habit for hitting clutch shots. NBA teams will have to decide whether what carved up the ACC will survive against bigger, longer defenders.”
And, while O’Connor’s grade was the high point in the marks handed out for the Pistons for their first-round work, other graders didn’t stray too far, with Okorie mostly earning strong marks.
“I had (forward) Karim López rated higher, but in terms of the Pistons’ needs, it’s hard to argue with a high-scoring guard whose analytics jumped off the page,” wrote John Hollinger, a senior NBA writer for the Athletic who gave the Pistons a B-plus. “While he’ll have to improve as a distributor, Okorie’s scoring should add some punch to what were some pretty moribund Detroit second units. That said, giving up three second-round picks to move up four spots is a pretty rich premium in a draft thick with point guard prospects. “
Okorie, writes Adam Finkelstein of CBS Sports in giving the pick a B, “gives Detroit speed and rim pressure but is not an elite shooter, and so he doesn’t really help their floor spacing quite as much as hoped around Cade Cunningham, but he does give them another creator when Cunninghm is off the floor.”
Other grades include:
Zach Buckley, Bleacher Report: B
Stephen Noh, Sporting News: A-minus
Kurt Helin, NBC Sports: B
Kevin Sweeney, Sports Illustrated: B-plus
The NBA Draft continues Wednesday night with the second round. The Pistons do not own a pick in the round.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Ebuka Okorie earns Pistons positive grades for NBA Draft work
Reporting by Daren Tomhave, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Daren Tomhave, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
